Friday, 23 November 2012

It's unfortunate that Gottlieb machines from the 90's get such a bad rap amungst collectors. The build quality under the playfield is pretty awesome, and the reliablility of the board set has proven itself over the last 20 odd years. I have owned a couple in the past, and they gave me little trouble at all.

One which I had owned and kind of regret parting with is Super Mario Bros. I think the main reason I still wish I had it, was because it was in such great condition. I got hold of it back in 1995, so it only spent 3 years out on location. These days it's very difficult to find one without a trashed cabinet and worn playfield.

The game itself is a Nintendo/Mario fans dream. They really nailed the theme perfectly with appropriate art, fantastic sound (although it did get a little repetative) Plus really great dot matrix display animations that included the video mode where you'd use the flipper buttons to play a mini Mario game running across the screen jumping the gaps.

The light show was pretty cool as well. There's 4 prominent clear dome flashers on the playfield, and when I owned the machine I put cellophane over the lamps to add a little colour. Of course now you can simply purchase the coloured flash lamps :)

It's not a difficult game by any means. There's a kickback on the left drain, a drop target that acts as an up post between the flippers. Plus if you happen to start "Invincible" mode, it's almost imposibble to lose the ball for around 30 secands or so. But in saying that, it still provides a decent challenge. It's very cool when you finally get the "777" on the slot machine for 200 Million, and the "catch up" feature in multi player games where you could be coming dead last on your final ball and all of a sudden be awarded catch up where your score gets boosted up to whatever the current leaders score is, makes for some interesting times :)

So it's a thumbs up from me. If you ever get the chance to play or purchase one, don't overlook it.

Thursday, 15 November 2012

First up, I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of 2" flipper games from the 50's and 60's. Sure, they have amazing art and they obviously paved the way for the awesomeness of the 70's and beyond. But those little flippers which more often than not feel like hitting the ball with a wet noodle just doesn't do much for me at all.

Of course there are exceptions to the above, and I could rattle off a bunch of said games that I actually do rate. Gottlieb's Cow Poke is one of them.

Cow poke is the less common "Add A Ball" version of "Buckaroo" and the main objective is to light 1 through 7 by spotting the numbers on the Roto Target in the middle of the playfield. Of course they weren't going to make it easy for you, so the lucrative number 4 is the toughest to spot, as it only takes up one position on the Roto Target. So it's nice if you can get the 4 early in the game.

It's a real nudgers game because of the 2 rollovers and post between the flippers. It makes for some great saves! Another great addition to this game is the mechanical back box animation where the horse kicks the cowboy. Very cool, and you could imagine the game would have pulled in a lot of coins back in the day just because of that.

Be sure to visit next week, where we'll skip forward around 30 years, and check out Super Mario Bros :)

Thursday, 8 November 2012

Ever thought about what game you'd like to add to your collection from your birth year?. For me it's 1971, and Klondike would have to be high up on the list.

Designed by Norm Clark with Christian Marche providing the art, Klondike is a killer game that has a lot going on considering the year of release. With 5 pop bumpers that provide some great action, 3 kickout holes, an up-post between the flippers, a bunch of stand up targets, and of course the main feature of the game a 3 reel slot machine at the top of the play field.

The object of the game is to line up winning symbols on the reels and collect the awards from the centre kick out hole. Awards range from 500 to 5000 points depending on what combination of symbols appear on the reels. There's no need to keep your eyes on the reels. It's best to watch the award lights and then nail the centre hole when there's a decent award lit. Another good strategy is to go for the 2 upper kickout holes to light the bumpers for higher scoring.

It's great when you have the post between the flippers in the up position. Of course the "Down Post" rollover button is positioned in such a place where it's kind of hard to miss. But that's half the fun!

Backglass art is a little hit and miss for me. I like it, but with a lot of pinball art in the 70's, they seem to choose a really weird colour palette. I mean, a pink horse?. Hmmm it's not as bad as the pink Jolly Roger on Gottlieb's Buccaneer I guess.

I think the theory is that they used weird colour choices because they wanted it to stand out in a crowd of competing machines, and if they used more natural colours, it wouldn't achieve that.

Thursday, 1 November 2012

At the moment I don't have any EM's in my collection. But definitely on my want list with a couple of others is Jumping Jack.

The theme and art can be a deal breaker for some. Personally I like it quite a lot. Gameplay wise, it has a lot going for it with a bank of 10 drop targets, 4 flippers, and 2 bumpers placed in an unusual arrangement which was copied a few years later by Bally on their 1976 Old Chicago machine.

I'm a big fan of unusual bumper arrangements. Williams did it quite a bit in the late 60's/early 70's with Norm Clark designed games like Spanish Eyes, Fan-Tas-Tic etc. It really encourages you to nudge the machine, and get the ball back in play from what appears to be a certain drain. Some people don't like that much because of the added perception of "luck". But I guess Gottlieb managed to cater for everyone back in 1973, because they also released "King Pin" which has a very similar playfield layout. Just move the bumpers half way up the playfield and put slingshots with in/out lanes in it's place. Replace the upper 3" flippers with 2" flippers and give it a Tenpin Bowling theme and you have King Pin. This is also an amazing game which I would defiantly own. However, JJ is the winner for me because of the lower bumpers and also it's a multi player game (It's more fun to compete!), whereas KP is a single player wedge head and has the standard slings and in/outlanes.

The above video was taken a couple of years ago and shows the lower bumpers going nuts!. Very cool indeed :)

About This Blog

Pinball has been a hobby of mine since I was around 9 years old back in the late 70's. I grew up on a diet of early Solid State machines and my folks bought me my first game in the mid 80's after a lot of pestering from me :)

Over the last few years I have accumilated a collection of videos which come from pinball meets and private collections from my local area here in Australia.

I figure it's about time I start a blog and go over my videos with you on a weekly basis. At the moment I have a couple of years worth of weekly postings, so if you're interested in talking pinball and sharing your thoughts on the games that I feature, feel free to follow me :)